UK (London) - Boxing After Dark
Becks in black tie-side string bikini, small black work out gloves.
Hudson in red bandeau with neck-loop support; small red work out gloves, low puncher's ponytail.
KO10 Beckinsale

Kate Beckinsale has answered one of the more embarrassing upset losses on her record, treating Katie H to 10 rounds of class before stopping the young and rising blonde in the final minute of the final heat with an irresistible volley of right hands.

Showing the same mobility and ability to fight in reverse that she used to shut Melissa George out down the stretch, Beckinsale picked Hudson apart from the fourth round on. Kate B worked behind an educated left jab while sliding back and turning to either side, finding a home for her straight right cross, her left hook, and uppercuts off either foot, with either mitt. Plucky Hudson proved durable and stubborn - refusing to be blanked in any of these heats - but Beckinsale's footwork and ring generalship would prove decisive factors in limiting the strong-legged blonde's offence.

The first three rounds were not so uniform as both women would be badly hurt - with Hudson beaten to her knees from sustained combinations in the first, and Beckinsale rocked and swaying early in the second from a tremendous barrage against her ribs. With more Hudson pressure giving her the third as well, it looked as though this fight might be a replay of their first as Beckinsale looked a disheveled and worried beauty. By switching to boxing, and utilizing the ring, Beckinsale's keen adjustments put Hudson on unfamiliar ground the rest of the way.

In the 9th, Beckinsale began walking Hudson into the right hands that would ultimately doom the American. Huddie got out of the round wobbly butt, but raring to go: her durability on the evening WAS remarkable. But Beckinsale would have none of it. Pouncing from the bell to open the 10th - Kate B offered her foe no respite, pouring withering leather to body and head as Hudson reeled along the ropes. A steady pulse of stamping right hands stunned Huddie late the round as she faced drowsily into the stream - and jerking right uppercuts completed the job as Hudson toppled forward.

"I'm ready for Spears if she truly wants that fight," A fresh and glowing Beckinsale would beam in postfight. "I want my ranking back, and I'll fight with whomever to obtain it."